AppleValley1
Chirping
- Apr 20, 2019
- 33
- 120
- 96
Hello everyone. I have just recently gotten back into raising English Orpingtons and this time around I want to breed for specific colors. I want to breed mauve mottled, which I understand how to do. Excuse me if my thoughts are all over the place, but I have several small questions in regards to colors in general, not just specific to mauve. First off, I ordered several beautiful birds almost a year ago, raised them up until 2 weeks ago..babysat my daughter's German Shephard that got loose overnight..long, sad story made short..I am now down to just 1 lavender rooster, 2 lavender hens, and 1 chocolate hen. I made my daughter order replacements for my choc mottled, lav mottled, and bbs birds. I know lav mottled has nothing to do with mauve, was just mentioning the colors that have to be replaced..and then wait another several months to be able to breed with. Anyway, I have bred English orpingtons before but only cuckoo birds. I've never tried to do a color project. Q1:for breeding lavender and lavender mottled birds I know you are supposed to keep black bred into it for color depth..what is the best way to do that? Meaning-do I use one that is split to lavender or pure black or....?? Q2:I have been engaging in conversation in a fb group and someone mentioned terracotta as a color? What the heck is that? It sounds like something I would love..also, are there any other new colors I've not heard of that are really pretty? Or is there some database I can look at photos of birds that are these non standard colors and how to make them? I want to make a bird that you just don't see anywhere that often. Q3:is mauve like lav in regards to needing to breed to black to keep color from diluting? And, do you just keep black birds in the pen with them at all times? I have only bred birds that were already black and white so I really am clueless and have nobody local to ask. And lastly, Q4: I understand that to get a mottled bird, both parents have to be mottled or split to it, in order for it to be in the offspring phenotype..with that said, what would a chocolate mottled splash bird look like or mauve mottled splash? Pics would be great. I couldn't find any on Google. Is that even possible to make? Or would you not be able to tell the mottling due to the splash? Oh, one more not so quick question..is there any way to make a reverse mottled bird? Like if I wanted a white bird with mauve mottling or even a blue or choc with mauve or splash mottling..is that possible? Thanks for reading this ridiculously long post AND for being nice in answering my scattered thoughts and questions.
